American Horror Story: Murder House
American Horror Story: Murder House (originally titled as American Horror Story) is the first season of the FX television series American Horror Story, aired between October 5, 2011, through December 21, 2011. The season was produced by 20th Century Fox Television, and the executive producers were Dante Di Loreto and series creators Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy. It centers on the Harmon family: Dr. Ben Harmon, Vivien and their daughter Violet, who move from Boston to Los Angeles after Vivien has a miscarriage and Ben has an affair. They move into a restored mansion, unaware that the house is haunted by the ghosts of its former residents and their victims. The first season of American Horror Story received generally positive reviews from critics. The series drew consistently high ratings for the FX network, ending its first season as the biggest new cable series of the year. The season was nominated for various industry awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama, and received a total of seventeen Emmy Award nominations. In addition, Lange won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. Characters from Murder House made appearances in the series' fifth season, Hotel. Christine Estabrook returned as Marcy, the nosy realtor. Matt Ross, who portrayed Dr. Charles Montgomery, appeared in the episode "Room 33" and Sarah Paulson reprised her role as Billie Dean Howard in the season finale, "Be Our Guest". Plot of the show The first season follows the Harmon family: Ben (Dylan McDermott), Vivien (Connie Britton) and Violet (Taissa Farmiga), who move from Boston to Los Angeles to start a new life in a Victorian mansion, after Vivien has a miscarriage and Ben has an affair with Hayden (Kate Mara), one of his students. On arrival, they learn from Marcy (Christine Estabrook), the real estate agent, that the previous owners of their new mansion, a couple named Chad and Patrick (Zachary Quinto and Teddy Sears), died in an apparent murder/suicide. Their neighbor Constance (Jessica Lange) and her daughter Addie (Jamie Brewer) become frequent, and mostly unwelcome, guests. Addie seems to have a connection with the house's mysterious past. Larry Harvey (Denis O'Hare), a former resident of the house who has suffered from terrible burns, also begins inserting himself into the Harmons' lives, giving Ben a cryptic warning about the house. The house also "comes with" Moira O'Hara (Frances Conroy/Alexandra Breckenridge), a housekeeper who appears young and seductive to men, but old and matronly to women. Ben begins seeing patients out of his home office. One in particular, a possibly psychotic teenage boy named Tate Langdon (Evan Peters), takes interest in kindred spirit Violet, who suffers from depression. Ben is unaware that Tate is both a ghost and the son of Constance. As the family settles into the home, bizarre events begin to occur with increasing regularity. It is soon revealed that there have been upwards of 20 violent deaths in the home over the course of its history, so much so that it has come to be known as "The Murder House". The family struggles with their own personal tribulations, oblivious to the reality that their home is haunted by ghosts. While exploring the attic, Vivien discovers a latex bondage suit. She later is raped by a man wearing it, who she believes is Ben, but is actually Tate. Vivien's rape results in the rare occurrence of becoming pregnant with twins by different fathers. It is later revealed that Tate's motive in having sex with Vivien was to conceive a baby for Nora (Lily Rabe), a ghost in the house who lost her own child. Hayden comes from Boston and tries to blackmail Ben into abandoning Vivien, so they can start their relationship over, threatening to tell Vivien that she's pregnant with Ben's baby. She is killed by Larry and buried by Ben in the house grounds, thus coming back as a ghost. Several ghosts in the house, including Hayden and Nora, conspire to drive Vivien mad so that they can raise the babies as their own. On Halloween, the one day in which the dead can walk among the living, Violet learns that Tate is an infamous school shooter, who killed a library full of his classmates (as well as crippling a teacher and setting Larry Harvey on fire) to punish his mother Constance for having Tate's younger (and deformed) brother euthanized. Addie is run over by a car, and Constance fails to get her corpse to the Harmon's property in time to imprison her spirit so that she can be reunited with her brother's ghost. Vivien, meanwhile, learns from the "Murder House Tour" that the house was the home of a back alley abortionist and that the still-living monster in the basement of the house is the creation of the doctor, whose son was killed by a patient's vengeful boyfriend, dismembered and resurrected as the monstrous "Infantata". Faced with the monster Tate is, and her own romantic feelings for him, Violet kills herself, something she doesn't realize was successful until weeks later when she discovers she cannot leave the house. After many ghosts, Vivien is committed to an insane asylum, while Ben is convinced that the second twin was fathered by Luke (Morris Chestnut), a neighborhood security officer. Meanwhile, Constance enlists the help of a medium, Billie Dean Howard (Sarah Paulson), to help her talk to Addie. Constance discovers from Billie Dean, to her horror, that Tate's child with Vivien will become the Antichrist. After Ben learns of Tate being the "Rubber Man", he has Vivien freed from the asylum. Vivien gives birth to the twins in the house, with Moira recruiting the more benevolent ghosts of the house to help her deliver the children. Vivien and one of the newborn babies die, leaving Ben with the surviving twin. Violet breaks up with Tate after Chad reveals that Tate raped Violet's mother and murdered him and his boyfriend due to their deciding not to have a child. Ben tries to get into contact with his now dead wife and daughter, who refuse to show themselves. As he grieves he contemplates suicide to be with them. Instead, Vivien shows herself and convinces Ben to leave the house immediately for the protection of the baby. As Ben is leaving the house, he is caught and murdered by Hayden, who hangs him to simulate a suicide. Hayden attempts to take the baby, but Constance, with the help of the ghost of a lover named Travis (Michael Graziadei), whom Hayden murdered, takes the child instead. Constance hides the baby and tells the police that Ben killed himself out of grief for his wife's death and that Violet (whose body is never found) ran off with the surviving child. Now trapped in the house, the Harmons team up with Moira and the other benevolent spirits to forbid other families from moving in by scaring them away. Meanwhile, Tate has consigned himself to living with Hayden, both of whom have been blocked out by the Harmons using a trick that Tate taught Violet. As the Harmons are decorating a Christmas tree, Tate promises to wait for Violet forever, as he and Hayden watch on through a door frame. Three years later, Constance (who left town) returns to Los Angeles, but finds that her grandson, Michael (the Antichrist), has murdered his nanny. She slowly walks towards the smiling child as he rocks back and forth. She then smiles and whispers, "Now what am I gonna do with you?" LGBT Cast & Crew *Denis O'Hare (Larry Harvey) LGBT Characters Gay *Chad Warwick *Patrick Category:American Horror Story